


Next of Kin

by somegunemojis



Series: Blood Royal [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:15:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26863513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somegunemojis/pseuds/somegunemojis
Summary: No one claims Trout's remains.
Relationships: Yamato | Tenzou & Uchiha Shisui
Series: Blood Royal [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945084
Kudos: 37





	Next of Kin

**Author's Note:**

> tenzo and shisui are romantically involved but it doesn't show up in this drabble hence my tagging.

Kakashi is in the middle of tearing Hawk a new asshole in that flat, humorless _way_ he gets when, without looking, he nudges his toe into one of the two legs that remain on the ground of the chair that Tenzo is currently lounging in, half asleep. The jab nearly sends him toppling over backwards with a muffled yelp and the movement had been subtle enough that it looks like he hadn’t done it all all. Tenzo lets the chair fall back down to all four legs, blessedly stable, and turns to snap something at the older man. Kakashi’s head tilts slightly, and when Tenzo follows his gaze he sees Shisui quietly taking Trout’s box. 

Her ashes, that is. They've been sitting on the table in the break room for a few hours, along with the few things she'd kept in her desk. None of them know her real name. Her entire squad had been killed along with her, but they'd at least had people to claim them. And Shisui has this _thing_ about the dead, always so superstitious about restless spirits and thankless sacrifices, but he hadn't known Trout hardly at all and Tenzo had--

Oh.

So he leaves Hawk to his seemingly endless reaming, slipping quietly out the door behind his friend, the two of them like a pair of ghosts in the evening light. Shisui gives him a look but Tenzo can’t read his face behind the mask, and when there’s no protest to him joining he continues to follow-- all the way into the deep forest. Shisui’s steps falter a bit as they take to the trees, so wordlessly Tenzo steps forward and touches his elbow, tipping his head in a silent, ‘follow me’. Shisui nods.

He’d liked Trout. 

She’d had this kind of dry wit that made her hard to get along with– it was almost impossible to tell when she was kidding and when she was actually ripping on someone. She'd always been quick with her tongue and quicker with a sword, serious and dedicated to her team and her mission. A bit of a survivalist. Once she’d led him to bend in a weedy little creek and pointed out the kinds of river-weeds that were good to eat and which ones were poisonous. Trout had dunked him in the water by the nape of his neck when he'd bent too close to the surface in his search of edible weeds. It had been the only time they'd ever interacted for more than ten minutes.

Tenzo leads Shisui to that exact place she’d taken him to, and they land on the flat river stones that make up the inner bank silently. The creek burbles and the sunlight dapples and shifts through the leaves of the trees, and Tenzo pulls off his mask. The water is a deep emerald green and when he leans out over it as Shisui does the same. 

“Come here,” he says, and smiles a little when Shisui obliges him by shuffling closer until their heads are bowed together. He points into the depths, and then kneels and reaches down to pull up a fistful of soaking foliage. “This is Llaita. It’s edible– Trout told me a couple weeks ago.” It is then that he realizes he now has a soaking glove and a hand full of algae, but he doesn’t want to drop them for fear of.

Well, he doesn't know. 

The sunlight that filters through the canopy above them is gentle and bright, and the forest is quiet around them. Tenzo thinks if _he_ was dead, this would be an okay enough place to rest– and it’s the only one that he knew that she liked. He’d seen her laugh here, and she’d called it peaceful. 

“Do you think– do you think it’s okay?” He asks, because Shisui has far better people skills than he did, and he’d probably know what makes a good final resting place. 

Shisui tucks his mask into his belt and hands Tenzo the ashes, the smile on his face just a touch sad. "It's really nice here," he observes mildly. "I think it's okay."

Tenzo nods and takes the ash carefully, like the urn might break in his hands. He unscrews the cap and squints into the little glass jar and thinks about his friends-- Shisui, Kakashi, Itachi, Genma. Boar and Kite. Standing around some place they'd thought he'd like, dumping his body reduced to fine grey ash. He wonders if they learned anything from him. He thinks about standing around and doing this for his friends, too, and the idea turns his gut into a block of ice. 

He turns over the urn and dumps the ash into the river without ceremony, and Shisui makes a choked noise behind him. He turns around, brows furrowed, and asks, "What? What is it?"

Shisui looks a little shell shocked, like he can't decide whether he wants to laugh or cry. "You're... you're supposed to scatter the ash."

Brows draw together, and Tenzo carefully puts the lid back on the urn. "The creek is going to scatter them just fine?" 

"Never... never mind," his friend says, shaking his head and dragging a hand down his face. "You're right. Do you want to say anything?" When Tenzo shakes his head, Shisui murmurs something under his breath that sounds like a brief prayer, and then he gestures for Tenzo to follow him back to headquarters. Strangely, the jar seems heavier when it's empty.

**Author's Note:**

> come bug me on tumblr on [hatakayyy](https://hatakayyy.tumblr.com/) if you feel like it


End file.
